Tuesday, November 22, 2005

Was checking our tracker to see where folks were coming from today and I noticed a link from TheWolverine.com football message boards. Someone had put up a post about my "Fan Report Card" below and in response, a FELLOW WOLVERINE had questioned my maize-n-blue-ness! Even worse, he called me a *&^% Buckeye! Sweet mother of Pearl!

I can only assume this is because I criticized the fans in the stadium for not making enough noise. I hope even the most casual Michigan fan understands the difference between contructive criticism b/c one is a diehard Michigan fan and wants to make the Big (Usually Quiet) House a better home field advantage for our team and (ugh!) a Buckeye. Ouch.

But in my opinion, being a true Michigan Man doesn't mean blind loyalty. It also means you offer suggestions, and yes even criticize, if you think something is amiss. Yet at the core of such critiques, it's all about wanting the program to be the best. Hell, look at Wangs' most recent post. He has big problems with the coaching, starting at the top. And while he and I disagree completely on the subject discussed, Wangs is 100 % True Blue. His complaint stems from that 100%-ness, not a lack of it.

So I hope this clears it up if the person who posted that vile suggestion stops by.

Then again, maybe the critic who questioned my M street cred is one of those "Down in front!" or "Key Play" fans.

6 comments:

On Saturday, I sat straight across (diagonally) from the student section. i was impressed with their pom-pom waivin' and shoutin'. But it wasn't very loud. I think it's because of acoustics. I was standing the whole game (in a non-student section) cheering and at times it would be louder, but never got that loud. Not because we were shakin' our keys (I didn't see anyone do it) but because our 100,000 little voices just drift away.

I think it's the design of the stadium and the tremendous distance that the fans sit from the field. That stadium is frickin' huge and spreads out at a very non-steep angle. I'm not sure there is another stadum that compares to Michigan's in terms of sprawl. The rows are not as steep as other stadiums and their is no second deck - it just sprawls and sprawls.

Circle the stadium with three rows of sky boxes, put a little roof that slants forward to trap the sound inside, and we'll have a dangerous situation with the noise that 100,000 generate.

Besides, I thought it was common knowledge that Michigan Stadium is one of the more quiet stadiums around with crowds that border on being sedated. I’m in Arizona, so I only get to watch the games on television, but just about every other stadium I’ve heard sounds much louder than Michigan’s. I’ve never heard Michigan’s crowds even come close to being as loud as Virginia Tech’s fans were at the start of their game with Miami. And forget about Autzen Stadium earlier in the season when Oregon was leading USC, that place is eardrum scorching.

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